Happenings 5 March 2026

Faith and fear are very closely connected.

Someone once said that fear is simply faith in the worst happening. It is still belief and trust, but it is belief and trust put in the wrong things. This, of course, is so often Satan’s ploy with God’s children – to get them to shift the object of their trust from the goodness and greatness of God to the uncertainty and doubt of their circumstances. As has been famously said, ‘Satan is busy in the darkrooms of our lives developing negatives.’ How are you approaching the year ahead? With faith in God or with fear? Hannah Hurnard, the author of ‘Hinds’ Feet on High Places’, was once paralysed by fear. Then she heard a sermon on scarecrows that challenged her to turn her fear into faith. This is what she wrote: ‘The preacher said, “A wise bird knows that a scarecrow is simply an advertisement. It announces that some very juicy and delicious fruit is to be had for the picking. There are scarecrows in all the best gardens...If I am wise, I too shall treat the scarecrow as though it were an invitation. Every giant in the way which makes me feel like a grasshopper is only a scarecrow beckoning me to God’s richest blessings.” He concluded, “Faith is a bird which loves to perch on scarecrows. All our fears are groundless.”

I pray that this year, God may deepen our hope and trust in him, that in all things we will discover that faith placed in him is never misplaced.

In Him,
Murray